Hero
by someonestolemyname
Summary: 50 sentences. Because they are children; they are fighters; they are heroes.


**#01 – Comfort**

Katarra is a mother, a healer, a leader – she is the one they turn to when nothing else makes sense.

**#02 – Kiss**

Three days is nothing, nothing at all, and three seconds is even less; but it's the time it takes to be able to look into the night sky and not hate himself that really astounds Sokka.

**#03 – Soft**

His eyes are a grey unhardened by one hundred years of war and it is that single truth that gives him the power to change hearts that have seen too much.

**#04 – Pain**

The bald monk's head tilts to the side as he asks his question and Zuko has to look away from the painful what ifs he sees.

**#05 – Potatoes**

Hunting might be more fun, would certainly yield a dinner he's prefer, but Sokka drops to his knees and pulls the bulbous roots from the ground.

**#06 – Rain**

In the rain – and only in the rain – does Katarra truly, honestly feel like she can make a difference.

**#07 – Chocolate**

Zuko pulls a wrapped parcel from his tunic and hands it to a Toph that is throwing her arms around him the very next second.

**#08 – Happiness**

They are crowded and all different heights and nothing more than a mass of flailing limbs and laughing mouths but they are friends and they are _all_ hugging and it is enough to face the next day with smiles.

**#09 – Telephone**

"They are coming," whisper the cells at her sides, but she can't afford to believe it so Suki takes a deep breath and _punch, kick, stab._

**#10 – Ears**

Mai really only wishes he had _told_ her.

**#11 – Name**

"Katarra," he says and when she looks up at him from her sprawl on the ground – scarred face, outstretched hand, and concern-filled eye – she takes his help and smiles.

**#12 – Sensual**

She runs her water-coated hands over his flat stomach and tries to summon a blush to make this all less real and horrible– she only manages a stifled sob.

**#13 – Death**

Even though they know – each and every one – that the chances of them living to see another winter grow less with every sun-filled day, there is not one that will back down now.

**#14 – Sex**

He looks at the group, the little GAang, from Teo and Duke to Toph and Aang, and thinks that if it's bad to die a virgin, it's worse to die a child.

**#15 – Touch**

The feel of steady earth, sure and reliable and ready to move to her will, is nothing at all compared to the steady squeeze of another human's hand.

**#16 – Weakness**

Until that very last fight and that very last moment, Zuko truly, honestly believes that he is weak because of the heart that beats so damn persistently in his chest – but then, in a flash of brilliance and clarity, he knows how wrong he was.

**#17 – Tears**

And they all cry some nights, alone in the halls of a dead people, but they are all careful – ever so excruciatingly careful – to let no one else hear.

**#18 – Speed**

It takes a great deal of effort to be happy when you know fate looms only weeks away, but for one another, they all pretend it's the easiest thing in the world.

**#19 – Wind**

He wants to fly over his problems or rush around them, but Aang won't, because he is the last airbender and he is tied to the water, the earth, and the fire.

**#20 – Freedom**

On a near impossible mission with death and destruction likely outcomes, a group of misfits and orphans find something like freedom.

**#21 – Life**

Children don't understand death, not even this group, but they do understand how bad it hurts when someone is gone.

**#22 – Jealousy**

She once envied him, when he bended her element as easily as his own, but now she can only thank the spirits it was him to bear that burden.

**#23 – Hands**

Mai's hands are pale and long-fingered, curved around her knives with impossible familiarity, and they are bloodstained and cruel, but they are – this time – going to mean salvation.

**#24 – Taste**

Here love has the taste of bison drool and grudgingly shared jerky.

**#25 – Devotion**

The difference between the Earth Rumbles of before and the battles of now, Toph decides, is that now she worries; now there is someone at her side that can be lost.

**#26 – Forever**

"Even – Even if we don't… don't make it… I'll see in the next life, ok?"

**#27 – Blood**

For them and only for them will she call to the moon and answer the thudding power that gives her ultimate control.

**#28 – Sickness**

Nerves are nothing, nothing compared to the churning, burning, dying sensation in Sokka's stomach as he watches his family prepare for what will be the end.

**#29 – Melody**

The shaking gasps and watery sniffs are the only indication of everyone's tears until finally, at once, they latch onto each other and let the sobs come.

**#30 – Star**

"It's just some stupid rock," Toph hisses, "Just some stupid rock blasting through space to kill us all and I can't even bend it away."

**#31 – Home**

The Duke's life doesn't make sense – especially not to him – but somehow he knows that this is where he belongs.

**#32 – Confusion**

Before she sends the earth to come crashing down around him, Toph feels the solider smile.

**#33 – Fear**

Terror is looking into blue eyes and not knowing if you ever will again.

**#34 - Lightning/Thunder**

This time, his heart is clear and his path undivided and Zuko feels a rush like none he's felt before.

**#35 – Bonds**

They don't make sense and they don't have to because at the center there is Aang and he makes both none and all the sense in the world.

**#36 – Market**

It's ridiculous and petty, but Katarra really wishes she had better clothes for this event (and she won't let herself think of corpses and death and why she wants to look not like a peasant).

**#37 – Technology**

He's the idea guy, the planner and the plotter, so he's the one that's praying he isn't wrong.

**#38 – Gift**

There is no hesitation and no remorse as Sokka trades his weapons for the life of a little blind girl he loves.

**#39 – Smile**

If there were one reason he should fail, it would be all the reasons behind his smile.

**#40 – Innocence**

"It," Katarra grabs his sleeve and pulls him towards her, close enough for him to see the red around her eyes and smell the smoke of her burnt sleeves, "wasn't you Zuko – It never was."

**#41 – Completion**

In every move he makes there is a little of Katarra's determination, a pinch of Toph's assuredness, a speck of Zuko's passion, a bit of Sokka's pride, and nothing but their love.

**#42 – Clouds**

_In the sky they were above everything: the ocean, Zuko, and reality._

**#43 – Sky**

In those few spaces between heartbeats, with the Fir Lord at his mercy and the world on his shoulders, Aang looks up past the splintered glass skylights and wants to go back to simply soaring.

**#44 – Heaven**

"We – We did it."

**#45 – Hell**

For a second, a single second that burns his heart and kills his soul, he can't find them.

**#46 – Sun**

It takes him a long, painful moment of reflection and determination before he can make himself sit in the throne he must now call his own.

**#47 – Moon**

She looks down on the children she had saved when she was nothing but a child herself and shines as brightly as she can.

**#48 – Waves**

The ocean crashes and rages throughout the entire night: Katarra cries for reasons she doesn't understand.

**#49 – Hair**

When Zuko is Fire Lord, his hair will be short and shaggy and he will let Katarra ruffle it and tell him he needs a trim.

**#50 – Supernova**

"I love you."

* * *

**AN:** I think that the reader will only see the spoilers for _Sozin's Comet_ if they already know what they're looking for. At least, that's the plan. Besides, I only know the basic gist – nothing specific.

Anyone, however, can see my pitiful attempts to pay homage to my (not!) sinking ship. Sorry about that 8D

Oh, and the prompts come from the _50 Sentence Community _on LiveJournal – aka the first hyperlink to pop up when "50 words" is typed into the Google search bar. I don't plan on posting there, for reasons ranging from not having and LJ to not thinking this would fit, but – hey – just so ya know…


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